Dropping attachment for corn-planters



J M. BRYANT. DROPPING ATTACHMENT FOR 001m TLANTBRs.

(No Model.)

Patented Sept. 6, 1887.

Zfljfizesses: I 1 m 7 Qt Mme UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE,

JOHN M. BRYANT, OF WEBSTER, KANSAS.

DROPPING ATTACHMENT FOR CORN-PLANTERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 369,630, dated September 6, 1887.

- Application filed March 14, 1887. Serial No. 230,917. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN M. BRYANT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Webster, in

the county of Books and State of Kansas, have invented a new and useful Dropping Attachment for Corn-Planters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in dropping attachments for cornplanters in which crank-shaped levers come alternately in contact with adjustable brackets attached to the spokes of the drive-wheel of the cornplanter, and said levers are so connected and arranged that they move the slide-bar of the droppers alternately to the right and'left, as hereinafter described; and the objects of my invention are, first, to provide an automatic dropping attachment worked by the drivingwheel; second, to provide an automatic dropping attachment that can be successfully attached to two-horse corn-planters of any make without changing the construction of the planter; third, to provide an attachment that can be easily and quickly thrown out of gear, so that it will not drop or operate while being transported from field to field. I attain these objects by means of the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which the figure is a partial rear view of the attachment as it appears secured to a common two-horse corn-planter.

The attachment is fastened to the right-hand drive-wheel and seed-box and to the slide-bar of the planter.

In the drawing all of the parts excepting the drive-wheel, seed-box, and slide-bar are omitted, as they are considered unnecessary to an understanding of the workings of myinvention.

4 is the slide-bar of the planter, and is moved alternately to the left and right by means of the pitman 5, which is connected with the crank-lever 6 by means of the lever-arm 7, which is rigidly attached to crank-lever 6.

8 is another crank-lever, which works alternately with lever 6 and directly opposed to it, and the two crank-levers 6 and 8 are connected by means of the pitman 9, which is attached to the arms 10 and 11, which are rigidly attached to levers 6 and 8, respectively, as illus- 50 trated in the accompanying drawing.

The two crank-levers 6 and 8 are supported in position and work-in bearings in the clamp a a, which clamp is itself attached to the seedbox 3 by means of bolts b b passing through the clamp a a near the ends of its jaws. By tightening the bolts b b the pressure of the clamp-jaws a or becomes so great that they are held permanently to the sides of the seed-box.

The crank-levers 6 and 8 are worked by having their crankrarms c and d forced downward by contact with the brackets f and g, respectively, which are attached to the spokes of the drive-wheel 2 by means of staple-shaped bolts and clamp -plates. Thus, as shown in the drawing, the bracket 1 is attached to project on the left side of the spokes of the drivewheel, and is about to engage crank-arm c, which will force it down, thus forcing the arm 7' to the left, carrying with it pitmran 5 and slide-bar 4, and also forcing [arm 10, pitman 9, and arm 11 to the right, thus raising the end of crank-arm d into position to engage with bracket g, which is attached by means of stapleshaped bolts and clamp-plates to project from the right-hand side of the spokes and on the opposite side of the wheel and hub from bracket f. When bracket 9 engages with crank-arm d, it forces it down and to the right, and by the connection moves the slide-bar 4: to the right, and raises the end of crank-arm 0 to proper position to engage again bracket f alternately. The pitman 9 has each end bent to a right angle with the shaft of the pitman, and the bent ends pass through'corresponding holes in the lever-arms 10 and 11, thus connecting them.

To throw the attachment out of gear, it is only necessary to disconnect the lever-arms 10 and 11 by detaching one end of the pitman 9, thus allowing the ends of the crank-arms c and d to remain down and out of reach of the brackets f and g. Y

The lever-arms 7, 10, and 11 are welded to their respective crank-levers 6 and 8", and work with them. The lever-arm 7 may be provided with holes at different distances from its lower end, by means of which the pitman 5 may be attached by a bolt, so that it can be adjusted to make a longer or shorter stroke, as may be desired.

The brackets f and g may be adjusted to project more or less, as the case demands, by slid ing the arms of the brackets between the clampplates and the spokes of the wheel, as shown in the drawing. 7 Y

I claim as my invention and desire to secure Letters Patent for 1. In a corn-dropping attachment for planters, the crank-lever 8, provided with arms d and 11, and crank-lever 6, provided with arms 0, 10, and7, and pitrnan 9, in conibinationwith cam-brackets f and g secured to the spokes of the covering-wheels, allsubstantiall y as'shown and described.

2. In a corn-dropping attachment for planters, the seed-box 0r hopper 3, secured in position by means of bolts 1) b, the clamp-bars a (6, I5

011 which are journaled crank-levers 8 and 6, provided with arms d and 11, and arms 0, 10, and 7, respectively, and pitnlan 5, connected to the seed or slide bar 4, all substantially as 

